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Russian Scientists Plan Simulated Mission to Mars

Posted by michael on from the stop-elbowing-me dept.

EzRag writes "According to this article in New Scientist, Russian scientists are preparing for a simulated mission to Mars, with six cosmonauts crammed into approx. 400 sq. meters for the length of the (simulated) journey. They'll bring with them all the food they'd need, and will recycle air and water. They will not, however, be exposed to simulated solar radition."

6 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. been done by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Crammed into a windowless room with no contact with humans other than by a video screen and other communications devices.

    Where have I heard about this before.

    Oh yeah, my job.

  2. Re:I hope they remember... by Andy_R · · Score: 4, Informative

    well, if you bothered to RTFA, you would know that the experiment is being run by the Institute of Biological and Medical Problems in Moscow, and whole point of the it is to investigate the psychological effects of isolation, communication delays and medical self-reliance.

    --
    A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
  3. 400 square meters? by Andy_R · · Score: 5, Funny

    Experts say that once they have found a crack team of 2 dimensional cosmonauts able to live in the 400 square meters provided, they will have solved one of the major problems of space travel, namely the cumbersome insistence of previous space travellers on 3 the provision of dimensional living spaces.

    --
    A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
  4. Bones and gravity by Red_Winestain · · Score: 4, Interesting
    They also won't get the effects of extended periods of weightlessness. One of the major problems of prolonged absence of gravity is a loss of bone density. Women lose bone density faster than men. In neither group does this effect reverse much. When the first people to Mars return, they won't be able to function on earth again: none of their bones will be strong enough.

    If you don't think this is a problem, check out the recent findings of bone density loss, especially in women, in peer-reviewed journals.

  5. Wow, hard not to admrie that.... by OwnerOfWhinyCat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's neat to see any country doing the research that has little practical appliation and doesn't get them any "Firstness! (or on the moon, or in orbit) notoriety." It leaves me with hope that the days when the space program was a thinly veiled military weapons development program (in many countries), are behind us, and that the research that continues, is work toward the more noble goal of exploring a little more of the universe than an 8000 mile across ball of mud has to offer.

  6. Re:I hope they remember... by barakn · · Score: 4, Funny
    If they had a mechanical problem that they needed to msg home for help on how to fix for example, they'd have to wait many minutes before they got the info.

    That's what happens when you call up just about any hardware or software support/customer-service department on the planet. You could save a lot of money by just interviewing Microsoft customers.

    --
    "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show